Clulite MG125 gun light Review

[subwoofer 13]

Clulite make a wide range of lamps and gun lights. The MG125 is the smallest, lightest and most basic gun light kit made by Clulite. Aimed at the airgun and small-bore market the MG125 provides a solid entry point to lamping gear.

 

Online prices seem to range between £44 and £62 delivered.

 

 

Initial Impressions:

 

On receiving the MG125, the first item I picked up was the torch around which this kit is built. LED torches are now the most common type of light on the market and there is a lot of competition.

 

The torch is solidly built, but basic and is representative of the budget end of the market. The features of the supplied charger were also a slight disappointment at first, as it does not indicated when charging has finished, but this kit provides everything you need to safely get started with compact, high performance, li-ion battery powered, LED gun-lights, and that is its real value.

 

 

 

What is in the box:

 

The well-presented sturdy box has a magnetically retained front flap.

 

 

Opening the box lid reveals the torch, battery, charger base, mains charger adaptor, car charger adaptor, remote tail-cap switch, stick on Velcro and scope mount all neatly held in a foam liner with precisely cut holes.

 

 

The complete kit out of the box.

 

 

 

Looking straight into the lens showing the LED emitter (the lens is plastic)

 

 

 

 

Modes and User Interface:

 

The MG125 kit torch has the standard tail-cap switch and the remote switch, both of which provide a different user interface.

 

The standard tail-cap switch is the ‘reverse-clicky’ type. This means that from OFF, you press the switch until it clicks, and as you let go, the torch turns ON. If you then half press the switch (but not enough to make it click) you can monetarily switch it OFF and as you let go again it comes back on again. This tap on the switch to turn it off briefly (while the torch is on) allows you to change modes from High to Low.

 

Mode changes from High to Low, back to High are achieved by switching it on and off within a period of about 8 seconds.

 

The torch does not have a persistent memory, instead defaulting to the High output if left off for at least 8 seconds. (so if you are using it on Low, and turn it off for 8 seconds or more, when you turn it back on it will come on in High)

 

 

The remote switch is one of the most useful, interesting and distinctive features of this kit. Within the pressure pad there are two distinct zones which switch in different ways.

 

Near the middle of the pad is another ‘reverse-clicky’ switch which latches on, so from the pressure switch you can turn the torch on permanently just like the standard tail-cap switch.

 

At the far end to the pad is a momentary switch which only keeps the light on while you press it. As soon as you let go the light goes off.

 

Unfortunately, given the ability to switch on momentarily, you become more aware of the tendency of the light to switch to the low output if turned on more than once within the 8 second time window.

 

However the two switching methods combined within the same remote pressure pad provides great flexibility.

 

 

 

Batteries and output:

 

With the MG125 kit you get what may be your first 18650 lithium-ion (li-ion) battery. The battery provided with this kit is of the ‘protected’ type, where a special protection circuit has been combined with the basic cell. This prevents over-charging or over-discharging of the li-ion cell.

 

For those not familiar with li-ion battery technology, it provides one of the greatest energy densities (stores lots of power) of the battery chemistries, but can be hazardous if not used properly. Cells without protection can be damaged by over discharging them (taking the cell voltage below 2V), over charging them (taking the cell voltage over 4.2V) or drawing too much current. The ‘protection’ circuit prevents the user from accidentally doing any of these.

 

In use, you may find that the light suddenly cuts out. This can happen when the battery is run down so far that the ‘protection’ circuit actually cuts off the power to stop the cell from being damaged. If you measure the battery voltage in this state it can read 0V. Putting it into the charger will reset the circuit and allow it to then fully charge.

 

Because the battery provided is protected, the fact that the charger is very basic is not important, as the battery itself ensures nothing untoward happens. Once fully charged, the protection circuit will prevent over-charging.

 

The MG125 kit torch does not have any stated output specifications apart from saying the beam has an approximate range of 125m on High.

 

As with many manufacturers, Clulite state that you should use only Clulite branded batteries, however, if you have suitable, safe, 18650 batteries (and appropriate charger for them), there is no good reason not to use them. I have used both Ultrafire and AW branded batteries (both protected) in the MG125 torch with no problems.

 

 

 

The beam

 

The MG125 torch has a beam designed to throw a tight spot of light with not much light in the spill area around the hotspot. This allows the beam to reach a long way without the spill light blinding you.

 

In this photo, taken on a golf driving range, you can see the beam shining onto a yellow distance marker which is the 100yard mark. The exposure has been selected to give a representation of what the beam looked like to the naked eye.

 

 

 

 

 

Using the MG125

 

A unique Clulite design included with the MG125 kit is the scope mount. The special feature of this mount is the ability to adjust the direction of the torch beam to get it perfectly aligned with the scope. Previous mounting systems I have used don’t have any adjustment and rely on relatively flat trajectory. The advantage of the Clulite system is the flexibility to set the beam to match the point of impact. With the more exaggerated trajectory of an air-rifle, this may prove very useful.

 

The mount requires approximately 15mm of clear space on the scope tube. Personally I use compact scopes and only just had enough clearance to attach the mount. A clip fits over the tube and the clamp then tightens down onto this preventing any marking of the scope tube.

 

 

Not wanting to stick the supplied velcro onto my classic Webley under-lever’s stock, a small piece of blu-tak held the remote switch firmly in place.

 

From the front you can see that if you use flip up scope covers, these need to be angled to the side so they don’t block the light.

 

 

The side of the clamp showing the screw for holding the torch and the main clamp screw.

 

 

Here the fence is at 10m from the gun with the spot of light clearly visible in the ambient twilight.

 

 

The beam fills the view of the 4x scope giving a clear view at all effective ranges of an air-rifle and beyond.

 

 

A filter set (available as an optional extra) with red, green, blue and yellow filters allows you to change the light to suit different conditions. The yellow is often good in slightly misty conditions, the red reduces your visibility to the quarry, the green helps your own vision and the blue...well not sure as this is a frequency our eyes are least sensitive to.

 

After putting the selected colour lens into the filter holder it is a simple push fit over the front of the torch.

 

 

Initially I was slightly sceptical about the value of buying this kit having used much higher performance (and much higher priced) lamping equipment, however, this kit is aimed at those who are investing in a new technology, and it provides everything you need to get started in one box. The MG125 kit also gives you a great basis for future upgrades as you can upgrade each part of the kit when you feel like investing more.

 

 

Review sample provided by Clulite.

 

I’ll update post 2 of this thread once I have some more comments to add....

Edited March 14, 2012 by subwoofer

[subwoofer 13]

Reserved...